11.27.13

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NVIDIA Should Stop With Words and Lead With Actions

Posted in GNU/Linux, Kernel at 10:45 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

NVIDIA

Summary: NVIDIA’s drivers still cannot be trusted and NVIDIA’s assurance of performance improvements isn’t enough

NVIDIA, the world’s most proprietary GPU maker (which artificially cripples Linux drivers), is trying to appeal to gamers on GNU/Linux [1], perhaps with some performance gains [2] but hardly with any source code. NVIDIA, which already left back doors in Linux some years ago (severe flaw in the driver), should try harder than that. Freedreno [3] recognises the value of source code, Mesa 10.0 is coming [4] with an open door to public participation [5], and even Intel, the company behind restricted boot through UEFI, is giving source code to buyers of physical hardware [6]. There is nothing detrminetal when it comes to releasing source code to accompany hardware one sells (hardware which requires placing binaries in one’s computer with ‘root’ privileges). NVIDIA should wake up already and become respectful to software freedom, or at least those who want reassurance that NVIDIA’s blobs are not just Linux back doors. We already know that the NSA wanted back doors in Linux and it was eager to even bribe companies to help achieve this. NVIDIA is an American company.

Those who chastised Richard Stallman for rejecting proprietary components in his computers have hopefully changed their views after the NSA leaks/scandals. █

Related/contextual items from the news:

  1. NVIDIA Is “Taking Linux Gaming Serious”
  2. NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti Steams Ahead On Linux
  3. Freedreno ARM GPU Driver Keeps Hitting Milestones

    The Freedreno open-source graphics driver project that’s a clean-room reverse-engineered implementation of the Qualcomm Adreno graphics core on the company’s ARM SoCs keeps reaching new milestones. While the driver is mostly just worked on by Rob Clark and without any support from Qualcomm, it’s quickly becoming the flagship open-source ARM graphics driver for the Linux desktop.

  4. Mesa 10.0 Release Candidate 2 Has Arrived
  5. How to start contributing to Mesa3D

    If you really want to contribute to Mesa you should at least have some C\C++ experience, if you don’t buy yourself a book and go for it. Knowledge of OpenGL would also obviously be useful The OpenGL SuperBible is generally the most recommended book on OpenGL.

  6. Intel’s Open-Source Broadwell Driver Claims OpenGL 3.3

    Intel’s open-source Linux graphics driver for supporting Broadwell is continuing to move along ahead of the availability of the new Intel processors in a few months time.

    While Intel only open-sourced the Broadwell graphics driver changes earlier this month and began pushing the code forward into the Linux kernel, Mesa, libdrm, and xf86-video-intel drivers, the support is moving along nicely.

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